1. The Field of the Invention
The field of the invention relates to an improved washboard attachment for an automatic clothes washer.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The prior art is best demonstrated by U.S. Pat. No. 1,966,512 (January, 1933 to Misner) and U.S. Pat. No. 2,312,220 (January, 1942 to Snyder). Misner teaches a washboard with resilient curvilinear leg supports which have suction cup feet to fit over the edge of a sink and legs opposite to support a washboard plate appended to the legs angularly on the bottom of the sink. Snyder teaches suction cup means designed to be resilient thereby offsetting the tendency of a washboard to slip during hand rubbing. U.S. Pat. No. 1,287,948 (December, 1918 to Frank) teaches a means for moving a washboard attached to a holding device for a washboard which stands in a tub.
None of the foregoing is adaptable to the unique problems created by the design of present day automatic clothes washing machines of the lidded, top loading type with an upwardly directed rotor set in a deep basin. For efficiency the basin space is largely inaccessable so as to maximize the effect of the rotor's action. Prelaundering of garments, for example with collars and cuffs, essentially must be carried out in a place remote from the machine or on the lid when it is open. The lid is generally unadaptable to the installation of a washboard or for the holding of one. None of the exemplars of the prior art known to your inventor solves or teaches a way to allow prelaundering in a manner so as to contain incidental wash water and direct it into a deep basin of the type nor be nonobstructing to the machine.